A data leak from Rosstat, Russia’s state statistics agency, indicates that more than 450,000 Russians have been killed in the war in Ukraine, according to a report by The Moscow Times. The figures suggest the conflict has become the fourth most common cause of death in Russia since 2022. Russia has not officially disclosed its battlefield losses since September 2022 and has dismissed independent estimates as unreliable.
The data was obtained following a cyberattack on Rosstat carried out between October 29 and November 1 by the Belarus Cyber Partisans and the Silent Crow hacking groups. Both organizations are classified as “extremist” by Russian authorities. The groups reported stealing data regarding Russia’s economy, demographics, and wartime casualties.
Discrepancies in casualty methodologies
The leaked dataset provided by Silent Crow includes active military personnel as well as civilians killed in airstrikes and during Ukraine’s 2024 incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. However, the total death toll is likely higher than the 450,000 figure, as the data does not account for soldiers missing in action or the approximately 27,000 foreign fighters believed to have been recruited into the Russian armed forces.
The Belarus Cyber Partisans released a different estimate of 393,881 deaths. This lower figure was reached using a different methodology that only counted military personnel and civilians who died directly in combat or from the long-term effects of fighting. The Rosstat records also show that not all deaths were combat-related: 14,160 cases involved members of the Russian armed forces dying from non-military causes, such as illness, road accidents, or suicide, while over 32,000 died from wounds sustained at least one year prior.
💀 Between 390,000 and 450,000 Russian troops died in the war with Ukraine, according to Rosstat leaks, according to Cyber Partisans and Silent Crow. The Belarusian Cyber Partisans claimed that by hacking the Rosstat website, they were able to obtain data on Russian deaths… pic.twitter.com/dBQmHvP97g
The leaked data reveals significant geographic concentrations of fatalities. According to The Moscow Times, 72% of the deaths in the records were registered in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, where more than 20,000 Russian troops were killed during the 10-month Battle of Bakhmut. The figures also suggest that Russia’s ethnic republics have suffered disproportionately from mobilization. Researcher Maria Vyushkova told The Moscow Times that the Kremlin’s recruitment policies have amounted to the “extermination of entire nations” for some of the country’s smallest ethnic groups, using lucrative salaries and family benefits to attract men from these regions.
| Source/Entity | Reported Death Toll / Estimate | Scope/Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Crow (via Rosstat leak) | Over 450,000 | Includes military and civilians (airstrikes/Kursk) |
| Belarus Cyber Partisans | 393,881 | Military and direct combat/long-term effects only |
Political and economic implications of population loss
While the scale of the loss is significant, analysts suggest the immediate economic impact may be limited. Janis Kluge, head of the Russia and Eurasia division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, told The Moscow Times that the deaths represent approximately half a percent of Russia’s working-age population of 80 million. He noted that the men fighting often do not hold highly productive jobs, which may mitigate the direct economic shock.
However, Kluge emphasized that the primary significance of the leak is political. “It’s about who is winning this war and you cannot say Russia is winning this war if it is losing population at this rate,” he told The Moscow Times.
The cost of territorial gains has risen steadily. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, data indicates that 6.2 Russians have been killed for every kilometer of territory gained. Despite stalling progress on the front line, the number of registered deaths in Russia has continued to climb each year. The Moscow Times attempted to verify the leak by cross-referencing a random sample of 50 names from the Mediazona and BBC Russian “Counting the Dead” repository with the Silent Crow dataset, but the outlet was unable to verify the entirety of the leaked information.
🇷🇺 BREAKING: Hackers claim a massive breach of Russia’s state statistics agency, Rosstat, has exposed records showing up to 450,000 war related deaths on the Russian side in Ukraine since February 2022. The leaked figures include military personnel and civilians, although the…
The Kremlin has not issued a formal response to the specific figures released in the Rosstat leak.
More on Rosstat
Hackers have got into Russias statistic agency Rosstat and found classified data which stated 450,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in the war in Ukraine.
⚡️Hackers claim leaked Russian data reveals up to 450,000 war-related deaths in Ukraine. The groups said they obtained the records from Rosstat's internal Demography database, containing information from death certificates registered between February 2022 and August 2026.…
